Global økonomi

Trade barriers or trade facilitators? On the heterogeneous impact of food standards in international trade

Recent research shows that food standards can be heterogeneous across sectors or countries: they sometimes act as barriers to trade, but in other cases may lead to increased trade. We present empirical evidence from Norwegian seafood export data showing that food standards, measured by SPS and TBT notifications, generally have a negative impact on total exports, the number of exporters and their average exports. However, for fresh seafood, the impact of SPSs is positive. We present a theoretical explanation for this, suggesting that food standards reduce consumer uncertainty about quality and safety and therefore increase demand

Engergy Security in the Baltic Sea Region: Regional coordination and and management of interdependencies

The study maps changing energy relations in the Baltic Sea region in the aftermath of two events – the 2004 EU enlargement that has changed the political and institutional / regulatory landscape of the region and the outbreak of the armed conflict in Ukraine that has put the issue of energy security – and security in more general terms – very high on the European political agenda. It discusses how the regional distribution of energy resources and energy policies have contributed to altering the level of energy security in the whole region and in particular countries, how various actors have addressed energy security concerns by cooperative policies, in particular, EU wide and sub-regional (Nordic, Baltic) coordination measures aimed at managing energy interdependencies and increasing energy security.

Governing Cocaine Supply and Organized Crime from Latin America and the Caribbean: The Changing Security Logics in European Union External Policy

The logics of the European Union’s policy and practices against narcotic drugs in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) have undergone a substantial shift the past decade: from development to security. Based on an empirical mapping of the EU’s drug-related projects in LAC, this article argues that an ‘integrated and balanced’ approach to drugs policy is being replaced by a bifurcation between the broader domains of development policy and security policy. Questions are raised as to how the EU’s projects on development and security might counteract one another, and how the Union’s programme aimed at dismantling transnational organized crime along the cocaine trafficking routes to Europe might have unintended consequences. While keeping in mind the shifting tectonics of the international drug prohibition consensus, the article goes on to analyze the increasingly salient security rationale in EU external drugs policy against the backdrop of the EU’s emerging role as a global security actor. In doing so, it touches upon the intrinsic tensions between human rights and (supra) national security.

Still a “Strategic” EU–NATO Partnership? Bridging Governance Challenges through Practical Cooperation

The EU and NATO share a common interest in responding effectively to threats posed by Russia in the east and by Islamic extremist to the south of Europe. However, bilateral issues and the pursuit of national interests, especially those involving Cyprus and Turkey, as well as a general lack of strategic convergence have limited theeffectiveness of both organisations’ crisis-management capabilities. In times of a deteriorating security environment these limitations will be even more detrimental for Euro - Atlantic security. Poland and Norway, participants in both the EU and NATO missions and two principal countries of the GoodGov project are well positioned to break this institutional deadlock.

Economics and Security in China

The EU, Russia and Ukraine: a double track with no end?